From the Philadelphia Daily News: A year since Philadelphia implemented a plan to brown out three fire stations once a week on a rotational basis, response times have increased, the fire department's injuries have risen and fire-related civilian deaths are up from the same time last year. But city officials and the fire union disagree over whether those changes are a result of the brownouts.

Annual response times for engines and medics last year were the highest in 10 years. Although still below national guidelines, the average engine-response time in 2010 was 4 minutes 53 seconds.

As of June this year, that time had increased to 5 minutes.
City officials insist that the upticks in the department's injuries and civilian deaths are unrelated to the cost-saving measure.
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